Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe

[Petitions, May 27th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I present today an important petition about human rights relations in Egypt. People who signed this petition draw to the attention of the House the fact that the basic human rights, democratic freedoms, and the rule of law continue to be abused and repressed in Egypt.

Therefore, the petitioners call upon the Canadian government to condemn abuses of human rights in Egypt, urge Egyptian authorities to ensure that the basic human rights of all Egyptians are protected, regardless of partisan affiliation or personal beliefs, and demand that the rule of law and freedom of the press be observed and respected in all cases.

[International Cup Kids Playing for Kids, May 26th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the International Cup Kids Playing for Kids is an event that was born in 2006 of an idea of the passion and hard work of a few volunteers. Since then, they have demonstrated leadership, making this tournament larger year by year.

This year, we will be able to rely on close to 120 volunteers and 1,800 soccer players to gather funds for a good cause. All profits are given to the Sainte-Justine Hospital and the Montreal Children's Hospital foundations.

This tournament is an opportunity for kids to play their sport outside the regular season. It also gets kids and coaches involved in a major fundraising campaign for sick kids. This year alone, the organizers expect to raise over $50,000. Good luck.

As this year's honorary chair, I thank everyone who is participating and I congratulate the organizing committee for undertaking this major project.

[Questions Passed as Orders for Returns, May 14th, 2014]

With regard to Citizenship and Immigration Canada: (a) what was the budget for processing visa applications between 2005 and 2014, broken down by (i) fiscal year, (ii) processing centre, (iii) international student visas, (iv) work permits, broken down in turn by temporary workers, live-in caregivers, business people, and students, (v) temporary visas (broken down in turn by tourist, business, Super Visas, and transit visas); (b) what was the budget for processing immigration applications between 2005 and 2014, broken down by (i) fiscal year, (ii) processing centre, (iii) immigration class and sub-category; (c) what was the number of full-time equivalent staff allocated to each processing centre between 2005 and 2014, broken down by (i) fiscal year, (ii) processing centre, (iii) immigration class and sub-category, (iv) type of visa; (d) what was the average wait time for processing of visa applications between 2005 and 2014, broken down by (i) fiscal year, (ii) processing centre, (iii) international student visas, (iv) work permits (broken down in turn by temporary workers, live-in caregivers, business people, and students), (v) temporary visas (broken down in turn by tourist, business, Super Visas, and transit visas); (e) what was the average wait time for processing of immigration applications between 2005 and 2014, broken down by (i) fiscal year, (ii) processing centre, (iii) immigration class and sub-category; (f) what was the budget for processing private sponsorship of refugee applications between 2005 and 2014, broken down by (i) fiscal year, (ii) processing centre; (g) how many full-time equivalent staff were allocated to the processing of private sponsorship of refugee applications between 2005 and 2014, broken down by (i) fiscal year, (ii) processing centre; (h) what was the average wait time for processing of private sponsorship of refugee applications between 2005 and 2014, broken down by (i) fiscal year, (ii) processing centre; and (i) what was the budget for advertising between 2005 and 2014, broken down by (i) fiscal year, (ii) program, (iii) subject?

[Fair Elections Act, May 13th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk about the answer my colleague just gave, because I do not agree with what he said. The opposition is not alone in calling on the Conservatives to give the commissioner sharper teeth and more powers to investigate election fraud. Experts are saying the same thing. For example, in his 2012-13 annual report, the Commissioner of Canada Elections pointed out that it was necessary to be able to compel witnesses to testify.

Does my colleague think that the Commissioner of Canada Elections is not aware of which tools could help him investigate? I want to point out that there was a serious case of election fraud in 2011 and that the causes and guilty parties have yet to be uncovered. That is proof that those responsible do not have enough powers to be able to investigate properly. A look at Bill C-23 shows us that the Conservatives are not prepared to make those tools available. Why?

[Fair Elections Act, May 13th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.

A little earlier he spoke of the power to investigate in the event of electoral fraud and I am rather surprised at how different our interpretations are of the effectiveness of the measures in this bill for properly investigating electoral fraud.

I think everyone in the House recognizes that there was major electoral fraud in 2011 and that we must provide essential tools to those who need them in order to shed light on these incidents. Not only was there fraud in 2011, but those responsible for the fraud still have not been identified.

In his 2012-13 annual report, the Commissioner of Canada Elections raised the need for the power to compel witness testimony. The Chief Electoral Officer is calling for more power, including the power to ask for supporting documentation for the expenses claimed during election campaigns. Bill C-23 does not respond to any of those requests.

Does my colleague think that the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada and the Commissioner of Canada Elections do not know what they are talking about? Does he think that a political party is less partisan than these independent experts who are making these types of requests?

[Fair Elections Act, May 13th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech.

He discussed how the committee went about studying the bill. Specifically, he talked about how the amendments were presented. I would like him to share his opinion about how the committee dealt with witnesses.

Some 70 witnesses appeared to speak to this bill. Although they were virtually unanimous on several aspects of the bill, the Conservatives do not seem to have taken that into account with respect to several potential amendments.

For example, with respect to the powers of the Chief Electoral Officer to investigate electoral fraud, the witnesses seemed to nearly unanimously suggest changes to the bill. The bill before us at third reading does not reflect that at all.

Was the government's purpose just to invite people to appear, let them talk, and then carry on doing what it planned to do in the first place? I thought that the whole point of committee work was to invite experts and take their opinions into consideration. If that is not the point, then why bother asking witnesses to appear before committees?

[Safeguarding Canada's Seas and Skies Act, May 8th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. It is clear that he truly cares about his constituents' concerns.

Last week I participated in a waterfront cleanup in a park with some people from my riding of Pierrefonds—Dollard. It was great to see the public involved in cleaning up the environment and the waterfront.

However, the bill is not just referring to garbage being thrown out by people in a specific community. Should the public be responsible for the costs associated with toxic spills? The NDP does not think so, as my colleague mentioned earlier. We want those responsible to be held accountable, and Canadians or the people living in the communities affected are not necessarily those responsible.

I would like to quote Mr. Sumaila, a professor at the University of British Columbia and member of the Fisheries Economics Research Unit, who testified in committee regarding this bill. He said:

Who pays for this? We have mechanisms to cover up to $1.35 billion, but as I gave you in the example from the ExxonMobil incident, about $6.5 billion was needed to do the cleanup.

He does not think that the measures go far enough and thinks that we should ask ourselves why the public should have to pay the difference. I would like to hear what my colleague thinks about that.

[Government Decisions, May 7th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, we have been dealing with the Conservatives' incompetence for three years now. They are incapable of replacing our troops' fighter jets, incapable of ensuring home mail delivery, incapable of protecting Canadians' personal information, and incapable of ensuring rail safety.

Yesterday, the Auditor General added another layer: prison population management does not take into account the adoption of the Conservatives' own policies, which is counterproductive and dangerous for employees.

Also, Statistics Canada data are no longer reliable because of the Conservatives' attack on the long form census.

This long list of abuses is not surprising because it is always the same thing with them: no planning, governing by headlines, and using victims of crime and soldiers for self-promotion. Meanwhile, investing money for resources, for example, is out of the question because the government has to balance the budget before the next election.

Canadians deserve better. They deserve a competent government that does more than just pretend to represent their interests. For that, they can obviously count on the NDP.

[Employment, May 2nd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives would have us believe that they have everything under control but, frankly, that is ridiculous. In reality, they are ignoring this problem.

The Department of Employment and Social Development's own figures show that the number of temporary foreign workers in the manufacturing industry has doubled since 2006. During that same period, we have experienced an economic crisis and seen a hike in our unemployment rate, particularly in the manufacturing industry.

How can the minister claim that minor adjustments to the program will be enough when the government allows more temporary foreign workers to come to the country during an economic downturn?

[Employment, May 2nd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the temporary foreign worker program has been a problem for a long time. The excessive use of these workers is skewing the labour market. It is driving wages down and creating unemployment.

The Conservatives would have us believe that the problem is only in the restaurant industry, but there are also problems in the service industry, the banking sector and even the manufacturing industry.

Why are the Conservatives refusing to clean up this program by asking the Auditor General to investigate in order to ensure that no worker is put at a disadvantage?